J.D. Vance, "Hillbilly Elegy" & Appalachia's Shift to the Right: Arlie Russell Hochschild

[Uncle Joe]

As Donald Trump selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to be his vice-presidential candidate Monday, we look at the record of the 39-year-old political rookie, who rose to fame after writing the memoir Hillbilly Elegy and who once compared Trump to Hitler and called him unfit for the presidency. He was elected to the Senate in 2022 with backing from right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, and he has since embraced the MAGA movement and become one of Trump’s most loyal supporters. For more on Vance’s rise and his appeal to the Republican base, we go to Pikeville, Kentucky, to speak with famed sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, who has been speaking with Trump supporters for her forthcoming book, Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, which is a follow-up to her 2016 book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, described as “a Rosetta stone” for understanding the rise of Donald Trump.

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[Martin68]

1. I have always assumed Appalachia's "shift to the right" occurred at the same time the Democrats supported

Civil Rights legislation and the Dixiecrats all became Republicans. There has always been a conservative and racist bent in Appalachia.